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AP - John McCain, a POW turned political rebel, vowed Thursday night to vanquish the "constant partisan rancor" that grips Washington as he launched his fall campaign for the White House. "Change is coming," he promised the roaring Republican National Convention and a prime-time television audience.

AP - Some Southeastern states declared emergencies and officials urged residents to head inland Thursday as Tropical Storm Hanna headed toward the Atlantic coast, where it could bring high winds and rain from South Carolina to Maine.

AP - Asian stock markets plunged Friday after more bad news on the U.S. economy, a vital export market, triggered a broad sell-off on Wall Street overnight.

AP - President Bush's top defense advisers have recommended he maintain 15 combat brigades in Iraq until the end of the year contrary to expectations that the improved security in Iraq would allow for quicker cuts, The Associated Press has learned.

AP - The convoy rumbled out of the U.N. base toward a flooded, starving and seething city Thursday, carrying some of the first food aid since Tropical Storm Hanna killed 137 Haitians and drowned Gonaives in muddy water three days ago.

AP - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday that Republicans at their national convention are attacking him to avoid talking about the sagging economy and housing problems.

AP - Soldier suicides this year could surpass the record rate of last year, Army officials said Thursday, urging military leaders at all levels to redouble prevention efforts for a force strained by two wars.

AP - David Spade is the father of Playboy playmate Jillian Grace's newborn daughter, Spade's representative said Thursday. The baby girl was born Aug. 26 in Missouri, and Spade plans to visit her on his first break from filming the CBS sitcom "Rules of Engagement," publicist Meredith O'Sullivan said.

AP - The New York Giants won the Super Bowl with defense and they kicked off defense of that title with more of the same.

AP - Novak Djokovic heard what Andy Roddick said about him and didn't like it one bit.

Reuters - Republican John McCain cast himself as an independent-minded reformer on Thursday, vowed "change is coming" if he is elected president and promised to create millions of jobs by developing new energy sources.

Reuters - Top U.S. defense officials have recommended that President George W. Bush withdraw one combat brigade from Iraq but not until early next year, Pentagon sources said on Thursday.

Reuters - Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced on Thursday to serve four more years in prison in a corruption scandal that rocked Washington's power elite and helped Republicans lose control of Congress.

Reuters - Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty on Thursday to obstruction of justice in a plea agreement that forces him from office and caps a scandal that had threatened to spill over into the U.S. presidential campaign in a key battleground state.

Reuters - Powerful Hurricane Ike weakened slightly as it charged across the Atlantic toward the Bahamas and the United States on Thursday while Tropical Storm Hanna's death toll from floods in Haiti grew to 136.